CYP Now - Staying Put scheme 'must be funded beyond 2021'

The government must commit to funding ‘Staying Put’ arrangements for young people in foster care beyond 2021 to stop them being “unfairly” impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, Action for Children has said.

Almost four in 10 care leavers are not in work, education or training, figures show. Picture: Adobe Stock

In its latest report, Staying Put Six Years On, the charity states that government funding for the scheme which allows care leavers to stay with foster families until they are 21 has not yet been extended after 2020/21.

Cuts to local authority services due to the pandemic mean that despite the Department for Education increasing council grants from £23.77m to £33.28m for the scheme, “the future of Staying Put funding beyond 2020/21 is still unaccounted for, and, even with the uplift, local authorities will struggle”, the report states.

It warns that 39 per cent of care leavers aged 19, 20 and 21 in England are not in education, employment or training, compared with 11 per cent of all young people across the UK.

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